Holding Hands Around the Campfire
by EverAfter90
Summary: While on a camping trip with her husband and four children, Sharpay Evens Baylor realizes how happy she is and wants to show it to her children by making a CD for them for Christmas.
1. HumaHuma

**HumaHuma……………..**

"HumaHuma........aaaaa....what's the rest of it, Mommy?"

Sharpay Baylor looked up from rocking her three year old daughter, KelsiAnne, and smiled at her five year old son Matthew who was trying to master one of his mother's old songs.

"It's HumaHuma," she started.

"HumaHuma," repeated Matthew.

"NukaNuka"

"NukaNuka"

"Apua'"

"Apua'"

"a"

"a"

"See," she said encouragingly, "it's not that hard."

"Well, I think it is," Matt said a little grudgingly.

"It was hard for Uncle Ryan and me when we first started, but after awhile we had it down perfectly.

At that moment, there was a loud yell.

"MOMMY!!!!" came the voice of Sharpay's oldest son, Scott.

"Scott, what's wrong?" she hissed when she saw her son run into the room, "I'm trying to get your sister to sleep."

"Oh," he said sheepishly, "I'm sorry. I just wanted to tell you that Daddy is on the phone for you."

"Oh, ok," she said, "Let me put KelsiAnne into her crib and I'll be down in a minute. Scott nodded and went back downstairs.

Sharpay put her little girl into her bed and turned off the lights. She stayed in the doorway for a few minutes making sure that she was completely asleep. When she was sure, she quietly closed the door and walked down the stairs.

"Here Mommy," said Scott handing her her cellphone that she left down in the kitchen.

"Thank you sweetie. Oh, tell your sister that she needs to come in and pick up her room."

"Ok, Mommy," he said as he left. She smiled at her oldest son and then put the phone to her ear.

"Zeke?" she asked as she sat down on the couch.

"Hey!" came the reply from the other side, "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Well, not really. I was just putting KelsiAnne to sleep and teaching Matt one of my old songs."

"Really? Which one?"

"HumaHuma." She heard a chuckle on the other end.

"What?" she questioned, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, just brings back old memories; that's all. Listen, I don't have much time to talk, but when Kels wakes up from her nap, could you bring the kids all down to the bakery?"

"Sure, she said, "but why?"

"You know that camping trip we've been planning to go on for the last, I don't know, three years?"

"Yes, said Sharpay excitedly

"Well, I got somebody to take over the bakery for next weekend, so we can finally go out to the campsite."

"Zeke! That is fabulous!" she said.

"I know, I can't wait now."

"Uhmmm, why do you need me to bring the kids down to the restaurant to tell them?"

"Oh, I thought it would just be nice to tell them the news over a nice dessert. It gives you a break too."

"Ok, I'll try to keep it secret."

"Yeah, I don't think it was a good idea telling you first," he teased.

"Oh thanks a lot!" she giggled

"Mommy! I finally have it!" said Matthew as he came rushing into the room.

"Matt, she said, "I'm on the phone with Daddy and your sister's asleep. What is it you have?"

"The song!" he said excitedly, "I finally got the song!"

"Ok," she said, "let's hear it."

He took a few deep breaths and then slowly began.

"HumaHuma…Nukanuka…apuaa'….a."

"That was very, very, good!" she praised.

"Zeke, you hear that?" she said into the phone.

"Yep, I guess he has the Evens acting gene in his blood! It took me weeks to say all of that!"

Suddenly, she heard a crash that came from her oldest daughter's room.

"Uhhhh…Mommy!" she heard Regina say, "You better come and see this."

"Zeke, I better go; there might be an emergency."

"Alright, so bring the kids down around five or whenever Kels wakes up."

"Ok," she said getting up and rushing to her daughter's room, "Bye"

"Bye, Princess Tiki"

"Oh, evaporate tall person!"


	2. What Once Was

**What Once Was**

While Sharpay was helping her daughter clean up the mess in her room, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She couldn't believe how much she had changed since she was a young teenager. She was still stunningly beautiful, but in a more simplified way.

The once wavy blonde hair was now straight and pulled back into a messy ponytail. The once perfectly applied makeup that took at least an hour to put on now just took her five minutes and had to be kept at a bare minimum.

The girl who once spent hours at name brand stores and wore designer clothes now wore jeans and t-shirts that were bought from Wal-Mart. The girl who once was rail thin and had the build of a model had put on a little weight from giving birth to four children.

The girl who was selfish, spoiled, and arrogant had now grown up and was seeing life through different eyes. At twenty-six, she no longer saw through the eyes of a pampered daughter and demanding sister, but through the eyes of an adoring mother and loving wife.

This was the person she had become, and she couldn't have been any happier. Zeke was the major cause of this change. He had loved her for so long and had never given up. Now she felt like such a fool; chasing after Troy who wasn't for her, when her real love had been there all the time and she didn't even see it.

Her dreams of becoming a stage actress seemed somewhat childish now. A couple of years after her high school graduation, she and Zeke had gotten engaged. And Zeke was worth it. Even though she was just barely twenty-one when she got married, she knew that marrying Zeke was the best decision she had ever made.

Her children were another cause when she first had Scott and Regina (who were twins) something inside of her had changed. She couldn't explain it, but it was powerful. These were her children, they were her responsibility. There were hers to love and protect; even the ones she didn't know and yet still loved.

Several tears came to her eyes as she put her hand over her stomach. The traumatic miscarriage of the summer before still haunted her. Never in her life had she felt so much pain, sorrow, suffering, and anguish. It was an experience that still kept her up at night. This little child that had been growing inside of her for six months, that was a part of her, was gone. They had already given her a name, Jewel Rose.

Sometimes Sharpay would dream about her. Dream about the little girl she might have been. What she looked like, what personality she would have, which sibling she would have the closest relationship with. So many, many things that would never be.

She never realized it until now, that she was still mourning the loss of Jewel. Maybe she would never stop mourning; even after she got on with life, she would never forget her daughter. The mourning didn't take away her love from her other children though. Instead it deepened it, made it stronger, and made it more passionate.

"Mommy," came a little voice that brought her back to reality.

"Mommy, why do you look so sad?" asked Regina with concern in her big brown eyes.

"Oh….oh…I'm fine, sweetheart," she said as she quickly stopped the tears that were about to fall down her face.

"Were you thinking about Jewel?" Regina asked, taking her mother's hand and holding it tightly.

Sharpay was shocked. How could she have known?

"Yes," she answered honestly, "I was."

"I sometimes think about her too," Regina said not looking at mother, but held her hand a little tighter.

"You do?" Sharpay asked as she brought her daughter to her bed and placed her on her lap.

"Ye…yes," Regina said in barely a whisper. Tears began to form in her eyes.

"Mommy, why did she have to die?"

Sharpay didn't know what to say. Her own mother had had three miscarriages and not once did she ask her why the baby had to die.

"Well, the baby," she began, "the baby wanted to come out early, but she wasn't done growing inside of Mommy."

"Oh," was all Regina said. After a few seconds, she asked, "Will you be able to have another baby?"

"Yes," said Sharpay, smiling for the first time. "Yes, I think I'll have more babies.

That seemed to be enough for Regina. She cuddled up against her mother who began to rock her slowly. These moments were precious for both mother and daughter. There was always so much chaos at the Baylor household that there was hardly any time for the two of them together.

"I love you Mommy," came a soft whisper. The tears suddenly threatened to spill as she held her beautiful little daughter closer.

"I love you too, my darling."


	3. Surprises and Secrets

**Surprises and Secrets**

"Mommy, are we there yet?" asked Matt for the fourth time in the last five minutes

"Matthew," said Sharpay wearily from the driver's seat, "I told you that we would be there in about ten minutes. It's not my fault that we're stuck in traffic. You ask me one more time and I'll just turn this car around and we'll go home."

"No Mommy!!!!" came the protests from the kids.

"Matt, you have to ruin everything!" snapped Scott.

"No I don't," Matt snapped back.

"_Oh God, I'm not in the mood to break up another fight,"_ though Sharpay, _"We really do need a vacation."_

Finally the light turned green and the cars in front of them began to move.

"We're moving!" said KelsiAnne happily from her car seat.

"Finally," said Sharpay with a sigh of relief, "It'll only be a few minutes now."

She smiled as she saw the happy faces of her children in the rear view mirror.

It was full that night at Zeke's Bakery. You could tell that the owner had young children, because there was children's play area and coloring section, like the ones in McDonalds. There was also a kid's bakery section as well. Zeke and Sharpay worked hard to make their restaurant as family oriented as possible and they loved seeing children in the play area sliding down the large slides or at the coloring tables while their parents watched and talked with other parents.

Sharpay was helping KelsiAnne off of the slide when she saw Zeke wave to her from outside of the clear plastic doors that led into the playroom. Regina obviously saw him too.

"Daddy!" she yelled as she ran into her father's outstretched arms. Regina was a 100% daddy's girl.

"Regi," said Zeke as he tossed her into the air, "Have you been a good girl?"

"Yes Daddy," she replied sweetly.

Zeke shot a doubtful look at Sharpay and asked, "Has she?"

"Of course; they were all angels," she said sarcastically. Zeke laughed as he walked over to his wife and kissed her softly.

"Actually," said Sharpay softly so that her children wouldn't hear, "Regina was very good today." Zeke noticed a look in her eyes that he hadn't seen in a long time, and he knew where he had seen it before.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'll tell you about it tonight," she said quietly as she held KelsiAnne closer.

"Ok," Zeke said. Then he looked at his kids, "Lets get something to eat."

Zeke let out the surprise over ice cream cones, and needless to say, the kids were so excited that a couple of them dropped their ice cream.

"When are we going?" asked Matt

"How long are we staying?" Regina asked as she helped clean up the ice cream.

"Can Puppy come too?" asked KelsiAnne referring to her stuffed puppy.

"Yes, I believe Puppy can come too," said Sharpay.

"And we'll be leaving next week," said Zeke, "that is, if your behavior is good until then. If not….."

"We'll be good!!!" they promised.

"Yeah, I thought so," smiled Zeke.

When it was time to go, Zeke was locking up and Sharpay was putting the kids into the car. When she went to get into her seat in the passengers side of the car, she felt a dizzying sensation and a terrible pain in her head. It was dark and the bright lights of the other buildings began to swirl around in her mind. Her breathing became heavy and she couldn't hear anything, but a soft airy sound that began to vibrate in her ears. Suddenly, something was swirling all around her and she couldn't stop it. She could feel a harsh pain rising from her stomach to her head and heaviness in her body that she couldn't control. The soft airy sound in her ears became louder and louder. Almost like a crying sound; a sound that was so familiar to her; a sound that she never wanted to hear again.

The heaviness in her head was blacking out all that she heard, all that she felt, all that she saw.

"Sharpay!" came a voice that brought her back. She looked up and saw that her husband was holding her with a frightened expression on her face.

"Are you….are you alright?" he asked in a soft whisper. She was silent for a moment. She tried to gather all that happened in all that few seconds.

"Yes," she finally said, "Yes, I'm fine." Zeke let go of her, but he still looked worried.

"I'm fine," said firmly and opened up her door to get in. When they pulled out of the driveway, the children were all playing and acted as if they didn't notice what happened to their mother. Well, all except Regina who didn't say anything, but continued to keep her eyes on her mother's seat for the rest of the way home.

After the kids were put into bed, Sharpay was upstairs getting ready for bed. She was in the bathroom brushing her hair when Zeke came in with a glass of water in one hand and a couple of pills in the other.

"What's this for?" Sharpay asked.

"You know very well what it's for," said Zeke putting the pills in her hand. Sharpay took them without argue, but still felt like it was unnecessary.

"I'm fine," she insisted, "It was just a headache."

"Just a headache?" questioned Zeke, "You were about to pass out in the parking lot!"

"It'll be fine; I'm just stressed, that's all. Maybe this camping trip will help me relax."

"I didn't think that such a word existed with you," teased Zeke as he went to go unmake the bed. Sharpay rolled her eyes and smiled as she finished off the rest of her water.

"Listen," said Zeke, "I hope you don't mind that I scheduled the date so close to our trip to Lava Springs next month."

"No," Sharpay said, "The kids never get to go on trips with just us. I think it'll be good. And then we can look forward to time with Mom and Dad at Lava Springs."

"Are Ryan and Kelsi going to be there?" asked Zeke.

Sharpay groaned as she turned off the bathroom light, "Put some fresh filling in your pastry, you know that they won't be there. They'll probably be getting some award from the Queen or something."

Ryan and Kelsi had gotten married the previous spring and were now were now living in London, England. After graduation from Julliard at the top of their classes, they both received offers from **London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art** to teach dance and musical composition. From what Ryan was saying it was a great life there. Sharpay only saw her brother and sister-in-law on family holidays, but then only for a few hours. She seriously doubted that they would come to Lava Springs for the summer.

The truth was she missed Ryan. During high school she had taken so much for granted, especially her twin brother. Ever since they were small children, she was the leader and the one that was in charge. He took it with little to no complaint. People never really understood why Ryan was always so willing to submit to Sharpay's rules, but the reason being was that he didn't ask for much because he didn't need much. When his father died it would be him, not Sharpay that would inherit Lava Springs. It would be him that would control the family fortune, and that was probably why he had such a positive outlook on life. He would get everything, while his sister would only get joint custody of the family fortune. That is, if he allowed it.

So for Ryan, life was tolerable with Sharpay, because he knew that he didn't need much to get into the world. The fact that he would inherit Lava Springs didn't make him arrogant, but it had made Sharpay jealous and she felt that she needed to be heard too and that was why she felt that she had to control his life for so long and it was just in Ryan's reserved nature to let her do so. Whatever feelings of aggression or hurt he had he kept to himself.

It wasn't until after graduation, where he finally decided to break away from Sharpay and just become his own person. Since then Ryan was a success wherever he went and with whatever he did.

Sharpay never thought that he would become the successful person he was today. Nobody did. And now she wished that she spent more time just being his sister instead of being a bully. There was nothing she could do about it now. She had her children and her husband to care for and as far as she was concerned, Ryan could enjoy his social life in London with his new wife. She had more important things on her mind.

"No," she said after a few seconds, "I seriously doubt he'll be there."

"It's kind of sad," said Zeke.

"What do you mean?"

"Just how distant you two have become in the last several years."

"Well, if we have no relationship, it's because he's never here," said Sharpay defensively.

"You had eighteen years to build a relationship with your brother and not once did you try to. Did you?" said Zeke very honestly. Sharpay was surprised. Once again, Zeke was able to see beyond her acting and get the heart of the matter.

She took a deep breath and said, "I loved Ryan as my brother, but I never really considered him…..a friend, because I always thought he was going to be here in Albuquerque and so I thought I never really had to have strong relationship with him. Now I….." She couldn't finish.

"Now you regret not being closer to him," finished Zeke. Sharpay nodded.

"I guess that's why I've always stressed the fact that our children should always be each other's friends," she said slowly trying to avoid her husband's eyes.

"Uhmm," started Zeke apprehensively, "While we're on the subject of the kids, have you noticed a change of some sort in Regina?" Sharpay looked up at him in surprise. He had noticed too?

"Yes," she answered as she sat down on the bed next to him, "And that's what I've wanted to talk to you about."

"Ok," said Zeke slowly. Sharpay took a deep breath and began.

"Today, I was helping Regina clean her room and for a few seconds, I just stopped. I don't why, it just happened."

"Go on," said Zeke.

"Well, my mind went back to last year. To that summer and………and my miscarriage. And all the pain that I thought I was over with just suddenly came back. The memories and the anger and……the…" she stopped

Zeke put his arm around her. She laid her head on his strong broad shoulder as he ran his fingers through her thick blonde hair. When she finally got herself back together she went on.

"After a few minutes, I felt Regina take my hand and she asked me if I was alright and so naturally, so as not to worry her, I said I was fine. She didn't believe me. She asked if I was thinking about Jewel.

"What?" asked Zeke in disbelief.

"That's exactly what I thought," Sharpay said, "but it gets worse. She asked me _why_ Jewel had to die. I didn't know what to say. I was in complete shock. This, coming from a six year old!"

"Well, what did you say? Zeke asked.

"The only thing I could say. That the baby wanted to come out, but she wasn't done growing inside of me. She seemed to understand. But Zeke, how long have our children been going around with these questions and we haven't been paying attention??" she cried as tears started to fall down her cheeks.

"Sharpay," soothed Zeke as he held her face in his hands, "It was hard on all of us, most especially you. You can't go around beating yourself up. You're never going to forget the pain of Jewel's death and neither will I. It was a brave thing for Regina to ask you. And I believe you said the right thing."

Sharpay wiped her face and breathed in deeply. She looked at Zeke and for the first time is such a very long, long time she felt a peacefulness settle in her heart that had been gone for what seemed an eternity.

Zeke brushed away the remaining tears that were falling and kissed her softly on her forehead.

"You know what" Sharpay said, "I'm really glad we're going on this camping trip."


	4. Over the Mountain

**Over the Mountain**

"_The bear went over the mountain,_

_The bear went over the mountain,_

_The bear went over the mountaaaiiin!_

_To see what he could see!"_

Regina and Scott were in a singing contest to see who could sing the loudest and so far it was a tie. At least, that's what Sharpay thought as the family drove to the camp site set just outside of Albuquerque.

They had been in the car for an hour and it would take another half an hour to get to the camp site. Sharpay stretched out her legs and looked behind her. Scott and Regina were pointing at different kinds of trees, Matt was coloring and KelsiAnne was asleep in her car seat.

"Zeke, if the whole camping trip is as relaxing as this car ride has been _so far _I don't think I may never want to go back." Zeke smiled and took her small hand in his large one and kissed it softly.

"I always remembered being so excited when my parents took me and my brothers and sister camping," he said in a reminiscent way.

"Well, to tell you the truth" began Sharpay, "I have never been a big into camping; even as a kid."

"Oh yeah, I vividly remember you saying something similar to that during East High School's Annual Seniors Weekend Camping Trip. That seems so long ago…"

"Zeke, I think you need to turn here," Sharpay quickly said cutting him off.

"Oh come on, don't you remember _that_ camping trip?" teased Zeke as he turned left and started down a winding dirt road.

"I remember it all too well," said Sharpay pretending to be serious. Although, she knew she couldn't. She _had _to smile and think back to that crazy camping trip that she went on during her last year in high school. From having to share a tent with Gabriella Montez, getting lost on a hiking trail and having to trek through a foot of mud, the bland cold food, the dirty bathrooms and cold shower water, the constant stream of bugs and mosquitoes, and not to mention the awful pranks that the boys pulled. Worse of all she couldn't bring her little dog Boi with her; it almost broke her heart.

"It wasn't all the bad, I'll admit," Sharpay said,"But I'll never ever forgive you for those abominable pranks you and those other jocks pulled on us girls!"

"You loved them! I know you did!" laughed Zeke, "And anyways, you always manage to get us back."

"Get who back, Daddy?" asked Matthew

"Oh, Mom and I are talking about a camping trip we took a long time ago when we were in school."

"You and Mommy knew each other in school?!" Regina asked in almost complete amazement.

"Of course," Sharpay said turning in her seat to face her kids, "That's where we fell in love."

"EWWWW!!"

Zeke and Sharpay both laughed. It felt so good to laugh as family again. It had been a long time since they had found a moment of happiness to be shared all together."

"_Bearw when overw mouwntain_" said KelsiAnne in her sleep.

"I think it's about time she woke up," said Sharpay.

"Mommy can we stop for a minute," asked Scott, "My legs hurt."

"Mine too," said Regina.

"Mine three," put in Matthew.

"Sure I guess we can stop," she said, "I need a stretch too and maybe walk KelsiAnne around."

"Alrighty then," said Zeke as he pulled into a sunny open field that had little to no grass, but was surrounded by huge rocks and a nearby lake.

As soon as Zeke stopped the car the kids bounded out and started running around the field.

"Stay where we can see you," called Sharpay as she put on her sunglasses. She kept the sliding van door opened and sat inside in the cool shade. Zeke came over carrying a tired KelsiAnne. She winced because of the bright sunlight and buried her head in her dad's shoulder."

"Too bwight," she said softly.

"Oh, you're still sleepy baby," soothed Sharpay as she stroked her daughter's dark hair.

"Mommy, Mommy look!" cried Regina from across the field. As soon as she got her mother's attention she proceeded to do row of three cartwheels one after the other.

"Very good!" she congratulated, _"I should sign her up for gymnastics or even a dance school. She's very good."_

Thinking about dance though reminded her of Ryan and she quickly shook the thought out of her head. She watched her children as they ran and jumped through the flat fields. The place they were at was beautiful. There was a sweet smell in the air and the sun shone down brilliantly. Beyond the flat fields was a large forest that sat at the edge of towering mountains. The forest had dirt trails leading into it; so clearly it had been hiked through before.

"_This is too perfect; almost like a scene from a storybook,"_ she thought. Suddenly she had an idea.

"Zeke," she said after a minute,"Why don't we just camp _here_?" It's beautiful and there's so much more room than you would find on a camp site. Plus in case there's an emergency we're only 15 min. away from town. And it also looks like people might have camped here before."

"Well," pondered Zeke for a moment, "I guess we could. Hey Kids!" he called from across the field.

Scott, Regina, and Matthew all came breathlessly running to the van.

"Would you all rather stay here and camp instead of driving to the camp site?"

"Yes!"

"Yes!!"

"YES!!!"

"It's unanimous, I guess," said Zeke winking at Sharpay. She smiled at him and breathed a sigh of relief.

"_I don't think it was no mere coincidence that led us to this place."_


End file.
